In a recent article I introduced the notion that drunk driving laws miss the point... that instead of dealing with the behavior that is to be deterred (i.e., driving when one is not physically, mentally or emotionally in a condition to do so), our society outlaws only one of the many potential precursors to that undesirable behavior (i.e., having ingested alcohol). I explained in said article that, by focusing on means (drinking) instead of ends (driving when not in a condition to do so), we have at once punished the innocent along with the guilty and, more importantly, failed to deter the true target behavior that leads to the great majority of accidents. I noted that drunk driving laws are but one of many examples of the wrong-headedness of society's approach to problem-solving. Now I'm going to discuss another, more serious such example: "teen pregnancy", a term used to connote teenage girls who are pregnant, as distinguished from pregnancies that are thirteen or more years old.

Teen pregnancies are viewed by many as serious socioeconomic and health problems. Concerns typically fall into one of four categories:

1. The children of teenage parents suffer in a variety of ways, including low birthweights, and physical, intellectual and emotional developmental problems.
2. Teenage parents suffer because their parental duties limit their access to educational and career opportunities.
3. Many teen parents and their children rely on welfare and other forms of public assistance, costing taxpayers billions of dollars annually.
4. Adolescence is usually too young an age to become a parent in contemporary United States because raising a child takes patience and resources that are acquired in advanced societies gradually with age, education, and experience.

I want to examine each of these concerns in terms of the following considerations:

• The validity of the asserted problem.
We will test the assertion against available research.
• The underlying, as distinguished from presenting, problem and the relationship of this problem to "teen pregnancy" per se.
We will assess the extent to which the problem is associated with teen pregnancy, as distinguished from some other condition or behavior.
• Appropriate solutions.
We will discuss alternative approaches that can better address both the underlying and presenting problems than does simply reducing "teen pregnancy".

Here goes:

1. Assertion: The children of teenage parents suffer in a variety of ways, including low birthweights, and physical, intellectual and emotional developmental problems.
• Validity Test
• Research has revealed that, when other factors, e.g., extent of prenatal care, socioeconomic status, degree of family support, etc., are factored in, the children of teenage parents have been found, with very few exceptions, to be no worse off than those whose parents were older. Moreover, these children were found to have fewer health problems than those whose mothers were 30 years of age or older when they were born.
• Research has revealed that most of the developmental problems suffered by such children are associated with post-pregnancy parenting behavior, not with the pregnancy or birthing process.
• The Real Problem
As suggested above, the true causes of developmental problems in children are the socioeconomic status, behavior, and social environment, not the age, of the parents. Children whose parents are poor, uneducated, have few social supports, and have not provided them with adequate pre-natal, neo-natal and subsequent health care, are those who tend to have developmental and health problems.
• Potential Solutions
1. Since the principal causes of problems in children are unrelated to the fact of the mother's being a teenager at the time of birth, and are instead related to the status, behavior and environment of the parents prior and subsequent to birth:
Programs should be instituted to promote reduction in birth and/or parental rates in those whose socioeconomic status and support systems are inconsistent with good child health and development.
2. Since:
   • health problems of children are greatest when the mother is age 30 or older at the time of birth, and since
   • there are (in Oregon at least) three times as many births to mothers over the age of 30 as there are to mothers under the age of 20, and since
   • the fraction of children whose mothers receive inadequate maternal care is nearly 2 1/2 times as high for those over the age of 35 as it is for those under the age of 19, and since
   • births to mothers under the age of 20 constitute only 12% of all births:
   A substantial fraction of the resources presently devoted to reducing teen pregnancy should be redirected to reducing pregnancy in those age 29 and older.

3. Since, with the exception of the child-health problems associated with mothers over the age of 30, the great majority of problems that children experience are associated with the parenting environment to which they are subjected:
Programs should be established to promote abortions and/or adoption for pregnant women whose condition or status is such that they cannot be expected to provide a high quality parenting environment.




2. Assertion: Teenage parents suffer because their parental duties limit their access to educational and career opportunities.
• Validity Test
This assertion is valid on its face. Of course not all teenage parents have this problem. Many have siblings or parents who are willing to shoulder the burden of raising the child while the teenaged parent pursues her education or career. Others are sufficiently well-off financially that they can afford to pay for day care services while they pursue their educations.
• The Real Problem
All parents, regardless of age, suffer because their parental duties limit their access to educational and career opportunities. However many parents who are not teenagers find ways of continuing their education and/or pursuing their careers, despite their parental status. In fact, according to Mednick and Baker (reported in Hofferth), "Mothers in their twenties may lack the parental support of the (teenage) mothers as well as the maturity and experience that come with age.", and this greater support available to the teenage mother often results in improved physical and emotional health for the child.
• Potential Solutions
Since this problem is entirely associated with the status of parenthood rather than pregnancy, solutions to reduce the number of those who become parents without having adequate support systems in place should be developed. Representative such solutions include:
1. Establish and/or strengthen programs to promote abortions, or preferably adoptions, for those who become pregnant and do not have adequate family or equivalent support systems. (It should be noted that pregnant teenagers already have the highest recorded rate of abortions: nearly one abortion for every live birth).
2. Establish and/or strengthen programs to reduce the number of pregnancies for those who do not have adequate family or equivalent support systems, regardless of age.




3. Assertion: Many teen parents and their children rely on welfare and other forms of public assistance, costing taxpayers billions of dollars annually.
• Validity Test
The limited data available suggests that teen parents comprise less than 10% of the total welfare load in the state of Oregon, which is disproportionately low on a per-capita basis (12% of births are to teen parents, but less than 10% of the welfare case load are teen parents). According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute for Reproductive Health Research, Policy Analysis and Public Education, in 1993, only 5% of those receiving Aid To Families With Dependent Children (AFDC) were teenage mothers, while the number of pregnant teeangers was continuing to fall. Apparently this is not as large a problem as some would have us believe.
• The Real Problem
Women, regardless of their age, who cannot afford to bear and raise children are costing the rest of us billions of dollars annually in direct payments and indirect subsidies. The great majority of these women are not teenagers.
• Potential Solutions
1. Establish programs to promote abortion, or preferably adoption, for pregnant women who cannot afford to be parents.
Ensure that the process of adoption does not result in payment or other reinforcement to the birth parents.
2. Establish or strengthen programs that remove babies from the custody of parents who cannot afford to raise them, and place these children in the custody of those that can afford them.
Many such programs already exist. However, under most or all of these existing programs, children cannot be taken from the parents unless some form of egregious neglect or active abuse has been inflicted on them. The simple inability of the parent to afford to raise their children without public assistance should be added to the criteria making children eligible for removal from their birth parents. Of course, this option should normally be exercised only in the case of very young children (babies), in order to minimize the psychological trauma to the children.
3. Establish programs to discourage those who cannot afford to be parents from becoming pregnant.
Educational materials stressing that (a) children will be removed from parents who cannot afford to raise them without public assistance, and (b) no payment or other benefit can accrue to the birth parents as the result of adoption, should be an important element of these programs.
4. Eliminate institutional incentives for bearing and raising children.
There are numerous financial incentives provided by federal, state and local governments, and by charitable organizations, that encourage women both to bear and raise children. These include welfare of various kinds, the provision of services at below-cost (subsidized) rates, and tax deductions and credits based entirely on the existence and number of children in the household.




4. Assertion: Adolescence is usually too young an age to become a parent in contemporary United States because raising a child takes patience and resources that are acquired in advanced societies gradually with age, education, and experience.
• Validity Test
Substantive research on this subject has revealed that there is little or no difference in the parenting behavior of adolescent mothers as compared with older mothers when factors such as socioeconomic status have been controlled for. A recent review of the literature by Kinard and Kierman, reported in Hofferth, concluded that " ... that the main reason for a link, if any, is the socioeconomic status of the families, not the age of the mother per se."
• The Real Problem
• This is a parenting, not a pregnancy, issue.
• It is socioeconomic status, not mother's age, that is associated with varying patterns of parenting behavior.
• Potential Solutions
1. Establish programs to discourage those who are incompetent parents from becoming and/or remaining parents.
2. Establish and strengthen programs that promote effective parenting behavior.

Alright. What are we to make of all of this?

First, most, but not all, of the assertions that teenage parents and their children are worse off than average are true, but:
• This is a consequence of the socioeconomic status and other conditions, not the age, of the parent.
• Although a disproportionate number of teenage parents are members of the problem-centric socioeconomic groups, teenage parents constitute only a small fraction of all the parents in these groups. The vast majority of the parents whose children and selves are worse off than average are not teenagers.
• To the extent that the age of the parent, per se, does play a role in causing these problems, it is the children of mothers age 30 and older at the time of their birth, not those of teenage parents, who are the principal victims.
• With the exception of health problems suffered by children of older mothers, the vast majority of the problems of concern derive from the status and behavior of the parents when raising their children, rather than during or immediately following pregnancy.

Since:
• The youth of the parent, per se is not associated with the problems of concern
; and
• teenage parents comprise only a small fraction of those whose status is associated with the problems of concern;

then:

If one is truly concerned with solving these problems, it would be appropriate to redirect programs now targeted exclusively at teenagers to all of those whose advanced age and/or socioeconomic status have been directly linked to these problems. Such redirected programs should probably include some components targeted at specific age groups as well as at those in particular settings (e.g., rural versus urban) or who meet other specified criteria.


And since, again with the exception of children whose mothers are age 30 or older at the time of their birth:

The vast majority of the problems of concern are associated with parenting, rather than pregnancy or birthing;

then:

If one is truly concerned with solving these problems, even more important than programs to reduce pregnancy among those in at-risk groups is the need to:
• Establish and/or strengthen programs that promote and facilitate adoption of children whose parents are in the at-risk groups by parents who are not members of those groups.
• Establish and/or strengthen programs that promote abortion for pregnant women in the at-risk groups, when adoption is not feasible.
• Eliminate programs that provide incentives for women in the at-risk groups to bear and raise children.

If we do these things-- focus on the real problems and on their real solutions, rather than on the easy targets-- the "teen pregnancy" problem will be solved, and, more importantly, the much larger problem of which "teen pregnancy" is but a small part, will also be solved.

Now I want to discuss something that puzzles me about all this. Most of the research I have cited here is at least ten years old, and so has had ample time to filter into the awareness of those concerned with the "teen pregnancy" problem. I don't understand why, in the face of research that convincingly reveals that:

• the youthful age of the parent is not the problem and
• excepting health issues associated with older mothers, it is parenting, not pregnancy, that is the problem,

there has not been a major redirection of both resources and message on this subject.

I have developed, but not tested, several hypotheses to explain this apparently irrational behavior:

• Hypothesis 1: Those concerned with the teen pregnancy problem are of below-average intelligence, and not intellectually capable of understanding the implications of the relevant information.
I doubt that this hypothesis is valid.
• Hypothesis 2: It is easier to discrminate against (i.e., act to suppress the reproductive behavior of) young girls than it is:
  • older women (despite the clear evidence that their advanced age is a major source of health problems for their children), and
  • poor and uneducated women (despite the fact that socioeconomic and educational status of their parents are two principal factors associated with physical, emotional and intellectual developmental problems of children.

  My guess is that this hypothesis is probably valid.

• Hypothesis 3: Teen pregnancy results from teen sexual activity, and teen sexual activity is judged by those advocating elimination of teen pregnancy to be "morally wrong", whereas sexual activity (and consequent pregnancy) by older women, especially married older women, is judged to be morally ok. Hence, the campaign against teen pregnancy is in part a crusade to impose the morality of its adherents on others, namely the young.
  My guess is that this hypothesis, too, is probably valid.
• Hypothesis 4: The campaign against teen pregnancy is at least three decades old and has developed a life of its own. It is easier for those involved in anti-teen pregnancy programs to keep doing, and refining, what they've always done than to think about, develop or adopt new "out-of-box" approaches.
  I have tested this hypothesis on a small scale, and preliminary indications are that it is valid.

I see a pattern emerging from the two articles I have written on society's apparent aversion to dealing with underlying problems, focusing instead on means rather than ends:

In the case of both the drunk driving article and this article on teen pregnancy, we have seen that society chooses, and then focuses its attention almost exclusively on, easy targets (e.g., drunks and teens), and then institutes programs that are consistent with conventional morality (e.g., both "drinking" and teen sex are viewed by many as "morally wrong") to control the behavior of those targets, while blithely ignoring the true sources of, and solutions to, the real, larger problem.

I'm look forward to learning if this pattern is repeated in other aspects of society's problem-solving/avoidance behavior. I'm confident that you, the reader, are too.

Note: The most nearly comprehensive summary of research on this subject that I was able to find was published by Sandra Hofferth in Chapter 8 of a document entitled RISKING THE FUTURE, Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy and Childbearing. Most of the research results that I cite in this document were discussed in depth in Hofferth's comprehensive report.